Police, residents, alarmed at surging gun violence in Tampa

Twice as many people have been shot to death in Tampa in 2015 than in the first three months of last year. The violence has included 15 homicides, compared with just seven in the same period last year.

A small crowd gathered Tuesday outside Tampa Police headquarters for an anti-violence rally.

Police Chief Jane Castor says there’s been a total of 164 gun crimes at this time last year compared to 235 this year, and homicides have more than doubled from seven to 15 over the same time period.

The Tampa Bay Times (http://bit.ly/1GPuQiz ) reports that three teenage boys died in separate shootings in the last two weeks.